'Gross Interference': Senior BJP Leader Questions Vatican Church 'Meddling' in India's Affairs

09:47 GMT, 5 December 2019

New Delhi (Sputnik): A few years ago, a priest at St. Michael's parish church in Goa, Mariano Conceicao, openly urged Christians to vote for Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate, a politician from the opposition Indian National Congress party who later joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Sputnik

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party lawmaker Subramanian Swamy has questioned the Vatican authorities right to choose Bishops and Archbishops in India.

Swamy, who represents in the ruling BJP in the upper house of the parliament called it a “gross interference” in Indian affairs.

He added that the Vatican was given the status of a State in India by the country’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and the “Vatican decides who in India will be Bishops and Archbishops”.

A number of social media users echoed the sentiments of Swamy and showed their resentment.

Others of the contradictory views said that it is a practice followed by all religious organisations.

In 2017, the church in Goa came under scrutiny, as priests were found supporting opposition party candidates in the Assembly elections. A priest at St. Michael's parish church in Goa, Mariano Conceicao, openly urged Christians to vote for Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate, a politician from the opposition Indian National Congress party who later joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.